The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge.

Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ. You will have to register before you can post or view full size images in the forums.

CC3 Documentation

If you are a CC3 user, I need your input. If you've tried CC3 or CC2 Pro and couldn't make headway with it, I need your input, too.

This mission I've accepted from the folks at Profantasy is to create documentation for CC3 that informs and enhances a user's experience. The Essentials Guide that comes with the software is just a bare minimum to get folks started. My question to you all is, what did you want to know after the Essentials Guide?

Some of the topics I've gotten so far are
1) How to scale maps-- pulling a section out of a world map and creating regional maps
2) More details on the Effects
3) More details on how to work with a CAD program
4) More details on using Editing tools
5) Creating macros to perform mapping functions, such as hiding/showing sheets and changing views
6) Creating custom drawing tools
7) Creating symbols using your art

What roadblocks did you encounter trying to create your maps that a better explanation/tutorial would have resolved for you?

I'm pretty new to CC3, having only created a couple of maps so far. Note that I've also never used a previous version of the software, so I hope I'm your target audience.

My main interest is in dungeon design (DD3), so my suggestions may be biased in that direction. I've figured most of this stuff out on my own, but it would have been *really* nice to have had the answers in a nice convenient book. Still, here are a few documentation suggestions:

1) How does one inspect the properties of an element on the map?

2) How does one work with symbol catalogs? What's the deal with the "master filter" thingie, and how does it impact which symbols you see? (A particularly useful question after you install the additional Symbol Sets).

3) How does one adjust and manipulate the grid, particularly when we intend to print or display the map as a battlemap?

4) Creating symbols of one's own... I know you've already got this one, but I'd like to suggest covering areas such as: making symbols "smart" (and what exactly that means, and how "smart" symbols work), and what the implications of putting them in certain or sheets layers are.

5) How are the default settings for layers and sheets intended to be used? Meaning - why do things work the way they do out-of-the-box, and why would you want to change them.

Other than these, it's probably a good idea to wade through these and other forums looking for "how do I..." questions, but I suspect you've already done that.

One other thing you might want to do is add a section on techniques. For example, I've used some CAD software before, so I learned pretty quickly that it's a better idea to sketch my maps on paper ahead of time. Now, some people may disagree with me (I am a newbie after all), but I have a hard time believing that CC3 is design software. A buddy of mine who's also using CC3 for the first time (and is a former Dundjinni user) kept butting heads with the software trying to move things and around and make major changes in the middle of map before I suggested doing pre-design on graph paper.

Okay, that's my $0.02... hope at least some of this is helpful.

And, good luck on your noble quest! I'm looking forward to reading what you come up with.

What I'd like to know more about is how to get a map design made into a useful printable tile of sorts with a 1" for every 5' ratio to use for miniatures. I got this to work with my last D&D campaign by tediously setting up the window view of a portion of my map, and printing off the existing view, but there's got to be a better way.

Just Installed CC3 for the first time and it is a first time for me doing anything like this so I will get back to you once I fiddle around a bit

"It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of Java that the thoughts acquire speed,
the hands acquire shakes, the shakes become a warning.
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion."

First time I've really been to this forum and was intending on looking around for help of this sort, actually. I've seen and heard that city maps can be done with CC3 but have no idea how to start. I find it difficult to use many of the tools such as sculpting rivers the way you want them to look (even with sketch since erasing seems impossible without deleting the whole thing) to the creation of individual buildings on a map. I think it'd be great to start a world map that I could zoom in on a particular city and see say, The Griffonwing tavern along the port next to John's shoestore.

I've pretty much got the hang of the basic click and drop for terrain, roads, and symbols but that's it.